India’s medal tally will stay at a total of six with one silver and five bronze and the 71st place among 205 nations that took part in the Paris Olympics. With the Court of Arbitration for Sport dismissing Vinesh Phogat’s plea for a shared silver medal in the 50 kg wrestling event, India will have to be content with its on-field performance of medals that came in at one less than in the Tokyo Olympics and without a gold.
Having taken Vinesh Phogat’s case to heart after the athlete failed by a mere 100 grams to weigh in under 50 kg, this may come as a cruel disappointment to sentimental sports fans in millions. But rules are rules, and any exceptions made can only lead to more athletes being allowed to flout them, particularly when the weight limits are measurable and not a subjective criterion.
The Indian Olympic Association is making a case that the stringent weight rules come down too hard on marginal discrepancies and this could impact athletes’ careers as well as affect their mental well-being. While there may be a more empathetic way of dealing with such differences on two successive days of weighing-in, they must be laid down in the rules as allowances to be granted.
The more valid argument is that the case of an athlete like Phogat, who is not the only one to have been affected by weight regulations, still merits consideration for a silver as she had qualified to fight the final after weighing in below 50 kg on the day of the semifinal event.
It can be argued that a subsequent disqualification should not strip an athlete who had qualified for a medal. It would have achieved something for the sporting fraternity if the Phogat case leads to a prospective change in regulations that will be more sympathetic towards athletes who use no unfair means in competition to keep their weight classification.
To pursue this any further legally would be pointless. The IOA would do better to campaign for a change in rules so that athletes do not suffer such heartbreaks. The pursuit of sporting excellence calls for great dedication and framers of rules should recognise that.
Vinesh Phogat would, of course, remain a champion in everyone’s estimation and a heroine for millions of sportspeople for standing up for the security from sexual exploitation of young athletes, both girls and boys, in sport.
